Are Researchers Citing Their Data? A Case Study from The U.S. Geological Survey

Authors

GRACE C. DONOVAN, U.S. Geological Survey
MADISON L. LANGSETH, U.S. Geological Survey

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

4-30-2024

Citation

Donovan, G C and Langseth, M L 2024 Are Researchers Citing Their Data? A Case Study from The U.S. Geological Survey. Data Science Journal, 23: 24, pp. 1–14. DOI: https://doi. org/10.5334/dsj-2024-024

Comments

Open access.

Abstract

Data citation promotes accessibility and discoverability of data through measures carried out by researchers, publishers, repositories, and the scientific community. This paper examines how a data citation workflow has been implemented by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) by evaluating publication and data linkages. Two different methods were used to identify data citations: examining publication structural metadata and examining the full text of the publication. A growing number of USGS researchers are complying with publisher data sharing policies aimed to capture data citation information in a standardized way within associated publications. However, inconsistencies in how data citation information is documented in publications has limited the accessibility and discoverability of the data. This paper demonstrates how organizational evaluations of publication and data linkages can be used to identify obstacles in advancing data citation efforts and improve data citation workflows.